Werewolves of Canada
by MJSkySailor
Summary: Sixteen years after the defeat of Lord Voldemort, werewolves are still facing prejudice and being killed by wizards. Harry travels to Canada with Teddy and James to request the help of a Dark Creatures expert.
1. Chapter 1

**Werewolves of Hogwarts**

Sixteen years after the defeat of Lord Voldemort, werewolves are still facing prejudice and being killed by wizards. Harry travels to Canada with Teddy and James to request the help of a Dark Creatures expert.

**Author's Note: **I fudged the timeline a little so that James and Teddy are at Hogwarts together. Teddy is going into his sixth year and James is going into his fourth.

Don't own, don't sue.

XxXxX

Harry Potter sighed and rubbed his eyes as he read over the report once again. Werewolves were being slaughtered by wizards at an alarming rate, and it appeared that in retaliation, the number of wizards bitten by werewolves was drastically increasing as well. Traditional methods of controlling werewolves weren't preventing the bites, and harsher punishments for wizards who hunted werewolves didn't seem to be enough of a deterrent. If the Aurors were to prevent an all-out wizard/lycanthrope war, they needed to try something new.

"Richards, can you read off that paragraph on werewolves in Canada for me again?" Harry asked one of the younger Aurors.

"Sure thing, Boss." He cleared his throat and began to read. "Statistically speaking, Canadian lycanthropes have the lowest mortality rate and lowest bite rate of any other country in the world. The Canadian Ministry of Magic provides extensive funding for research, treatment and containment. One of Canada's leading researchers is Dark Creatures and Quasi-Human Species expert Kira Trent."

Harry thought about this for awhile. "I'd like to talk to this Kira Trent and hear her opinion on the situation here in the UK. Can you find out how to reach her?"

Richards shuffled through some files before holding out a slip of parchment triumphantly. "Apparition coordinates," he announced.

"Great, I'll go there tomorrow," Harry declared.

Richards held up a hand. "Might want to wait a day or two on that, lest your hostess teach you about werewolves the hard way."

Harry frowned. "You mean Trent is…"

"A full-blooded, howl-at-the-moon lycanthrope," Richards finished.

XxXxX

"I want to go to Canada! I want to go to Canada!" chanted the Potter children, along with Teddy Lupin. Teddy and Andromeda had flooed in for dinner just as Harry was announcing his travel plans to the family.

"It's not vacation," Harry tried to explain. "It's just for work."

"You _never_ let me go to Canada!" whined fourteen-year-old James.

"Me either!" exclaimed Albus and Lily.

"None of you have ever wanted to go to Canada until ten minutes ago!" Ginny exclaimed.

"But it will be a great opportunity to learn about my people," Teddy argued.

"Who, Canadians?" scoffed Andromeda.

"Nooo, werewolves, of course!" said Teddy.

Andromeda sighed. "For the last time, you're not a werewolf!"

"I'm allergic to silver, aren't I?"

"Yes, you and millions of other non-werewolves get itchy skin from some types of jewelry. That doesn't mean you get to run around bothering Harry while he's on a business trip," Andromeda said in a tone that attempted to put the matter to rest.

Teddy turned to Harry with a pitiful expression on his face. "Harry," he began, "I just want to learn more about my dad, and seeing all the werewolves in Canada would help me feel more connected to him. I wouldn't be a bother at all. Maybe you could think of it as a reward for doing so well on my OWLs. Please, Harry?"

Harry's eyes softened as he looked at Teddy and ignored a muttered "Oh, brother" from Andromeda. "Well… Kira did say she has a daughter around your age. I suppose it would be okay if…"

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Exclaimed Teddy as he hugged his godfather.

"And you can pick someone else to go with you if you want," Harry said. James looked at Teddy expectantly.

"Hmmm, I wonder if Phoenix is free next week…" Teddy pondered facetiously, referring to his best friend at Hogwarts.

James jumped out of his chair. "You'd better pick me, you wanker, or I'll never speak to you again!"

"Language!" chorused Harry, Ginny and Andromeda.

Teddy gave a dramatic sigh. "Oh, all right."

"Yes!" James shouted and dashed up the stairs to his bedroom.

"Where are you going?" Ginny asked.

"To pack, of course! Should I bring my broomstick? Do werewolves play Quidditch?"

"I don't know, Jamie but I guess we'll find out!" Teddy exclaimed, following James up the stairs.


	2. Chapter 2

Harry was surprised at the quality of the neighborhood Kira Trent resided in. The only werewolf he'd ever really known was Remus Lupin, and he'd subconsciously expected Kira to suffer similar financial difficulties. However, the house he, James and Teddy had taken the portkey to was fairly large and well-maintained with a well-manicured front lawn.

"Look!" James exclaimed, pointing around the side of the house to the back yard, "Quidditch goal posts!"

Sure enough, there were three Quidditch goals standing tall above the top of the fence.

"I guess that answers your question about werewolves playing Quidditch. Now come on, we should at least meet her before we go poking around her house," Harry scolded lightly. The three of them walked up the steps to the front door and knocked.

Canadian werewolves, it seemed, were far better off than English ones. Or at the very least, Kira Trent was better off than Remus Lupin had been. She was average height with a slim build that hinted at moderate exercise rather than malnutrition. She was in her mid-thirties, but her medium brown hair was not streaked with gray and her face looked quite young and unlined. She smiled pleasantly at Harry and the boys.

"Welcome," she said to Harry. "Please come in. It's good to meet you in person." She looked at James and Teddy. "And these two would be your son and godson, eh?"

"Yes. James and Teddy. James is the one with the reddish hair and glasses, and Teddy is the one whose hair color changes five times a day," Harry stated. Kira looked at Teddy quizzically after the last statement, and Teddy promptly changed his hair from blue to blonde.

"Wow," said Kira. "I've never met a metamorphmagus before. I've studied them, of course, along with all the other changeling species, but it's nearly impossible to find one." Kira shifted her attention back to Harry. "My daughter is around here somewhere. My foster daughter is away at Quidditch camp and I think Anja is soaking up all the peace and quiet while it lasts."

"Well, you have to admit Janexis can be a little tiresome," a new voice called down from the second floor. A moment later, Anja bounded down the stairs and skidded to a halt in front of Harry's seat in the living room. "Anja Black. Put 'er there," she said, thrusting out a hand for him to shake.

Harry accepted her hand and barely concealed a gasp at the last name "Black". Shouldn't her last name be Trent, like her mother? He looked her over. Black was a common enough name in the Muggle world, but Anja's gangly frame, high cheek bones and black hair reminded him very much of Sirius. And behind rectangular glasses were those same slate-gray eyes shared by most members of the Black family. He would have to ask Kira about the resemblance later.

Anja had shifted her attention to the bags Harry, James and Teddy had left against the wall. "Those are Quidditch brooms. What position?" she asked Teddy and James.

"We're both Chasers," James replied.

"Perfect. I'm a Keeper. Want to shoot some goals out back?"

"Sure," Teddy answered, slightly thrown off by the girl's enthusiasm.

"Great! I'll show you where you can change." The three of them gathered up the brooms and bags and retreated up the stairs.

"She's certainly something," Harry remarked, nodding toward the stairs.

"Yeah," Kira said, smiling fondly. "Best decision I ever made, having that kid."

Harry couldn't wait any longer. He had to ask. "Can I ask you something about Anja? You can tell me if it's too personal."

"Sure," Kira replied.

"Why is her last name Black, if you raised her and weren't ever married?"

Kira smiled. "Been reading up on me, eh? Canadian pureblood law. When two purebloods have a child, the child always gets the father's last name, regardless of whether or not the parents were married. Kira's father is Sirius Black. Your godfather, I believe, if what I read about _you_ is true."

Harry was dumbfounded. After several moments of stunned silence, a thought occurred to him. "But Anja is only fourteen, and Sirius died eighteen years ago. How…"

Kira set down the glass she had been drinking from and looked Harry in the eye. "This might require a little back story. What, if anything, do you know about werewolf reproduction?"

Harry was mildly surprised by the question. "Not much. Teddy's father was a werewolf, and he was worried that Teddy might be one as well."

Kira nodded. "There has never been a documented case where a werewolf father and a non-werewolf mother produced a werewolf child. However, if the mother is a werewolf, the child will be a werewolf seventy-five percent of the time, regardless of the father's status. Fifteen years ago, I was part of a research group that was looking for a way to lower that rate.

"I believe earlier you heard me refer to Metamorphmagi as part of the Changeling species, yes? Changelings are people who are outwardly human but possess qualities that allow them to change into something non-human without the use of a wand. Werewolves are the simplest and crudest form of changeling, while Veela, Animagi, and Metamorphmagi are progressively more complex. This research group that I was a part of had a theory that if you mixed the genetic material of a female werewolf with that of a male Animagus, the Animagus properties would hold the werewolf properties in check, and the result would be a human child."

Harry nodded at her story, but still didn't know how Sirius factored into the equation.

"As I'm sure you are aware, Animagi are extremely rare, and there aren't any registered in Canada. So we petitioned the British Ministry of Magic for a sample of Animagus DNA, and they provided us with Sirius Black's. Then we combined it with DNA from a female werewolf; namely, mine, and ten months later, Anja was born."

Harry was shocked. Sirius Black had a daughter? Not that he could have known, but still… "Did it work?" he asked.

Kira shook her head. "Not in the way we expected it to. Anja was born a werewolf, but she lacks certain werewolf traits. No tufted tail or short snout, and she needs less Wolfsbane than most to keep her mind at the full moon. But I probably never would have had a daughter had it not been for that experiment. I'm so busy with work that getting married or even having a relationship is practically impossible. Being a single mother was difficult when Anja was younger, but we muddled through. And now, I can't imagine not being a parent."

Harry wondered what Sirius would have been like as a father. He probably would have enjoyed it, although disicipline might have been a problem for the eternal prankster. It was sad to think that three of the Marauders were parents, but none were able to play Quidditch with their children, or see them off onto the Hogwarts Express or any of the other things parents did with their kids.

"Well," Kira interrupted, sensing the melancholy mood Harry had slipped into, "I'll go ahead and put dinner on. Now that she's found someone other than Janexis to play with, Anja will stay outside all night unless there's food involved."


	3. Chapter 3

"So Teddy, it turns out you and Anja are related," Harry remarked casually over dinner.

Anja looked horrified and turned to address Teddy. "I told you what we were doing in the broom shed felt really weird." Harry looked shocked, but then Anja broke into a wide grin and winked at him. "Just kidding."

"Wow, really?" Teddy said excitedly. "How?"

"Your grandmother's cousin Sirius was Anja's father. It's complicated," Harry told him. "How was Quidditch?"

"Brilliant! Anja's a great Keeper. Wish she could play for Gryffindor."

"Aw, you're making me blush. Anyway, I get a lot of practice playing with Janexis. She plays for Canada's youth national team. That's where she is now, at training camp."

"Teddy has the school record for most goals scored in a game," James chimed in. "I would've liked to see the two of them play each other. Teddy's out of Hogwarts's league."

"That's very impressive," said Kira. "Do you want to play professionally?"

"Yeah, I do. My grandmother says I scored too high on my OWLs to waste my time throwing balls through hoops, but I really love it. It's not just passing a ball around. That feeling of being on a broom and just connecting with your teammates is…" He trailed off, looking slightly embarrassed.

Kira smiled at him. "You sound just like Janexis. She was bitten by a Feral when she was thirteen, and the werewolf who bit her offered her a place in his pack. She runs with them on the full moon, but I swear she'd be living in the caves with them if not for Quidditch."

"How did Janexis end up living with you?" Harry asked. "Did her parents throw her out after she was bitten?" Harry had heard this story from many werewolves who had been turned as children.

Kira pressed her lips together in a thin line, and her eyes flicked between James and Teddy. "Not exactly," she said, and Harry was under the impression that she didn't want to discuss the matter in front of the boys. "She was a runaway, and she needed a place to recover after the bite. I took her in, and she more or less stuck around afterwards." She smiled and turned back to Teddy. "Janexis always says she wants to be the first werewolf to play professionally. I'm not sure if werewolf equality is ready for that yet, but the coach for Montreal showed up at one of her games once. Hopefully, being foster mom is enough to warrant free tickets every once in awhile."

XxXxX

After dinner, Anja and the boys went upstairs to play Wii, something James and Teddy had never done before. Kira cleared the plates off of the table with a flick of her wand. She and Harry sat in silence for a moment before she spoke up.

"I suppose it's not my business telling you this, or your business knowing this, but Janexis had a good reason for running away."

"Oh?" Harry said, waiting for her to continue.

Kira nodded. "Before she was Janexis Rodenbeck she was Kendall Myers; an American girl with pureblood parents. When she was very young, her father began to sexually abuse her. She told her mother about it, but the woman was so in love with her husband that she didn't go to the authorities. This went on for… years.

"Wow," Harry breathed, unsure of what else to say.

Kira continued. "Then when she was thirteen, Kendall snapped. She won't tell me what happened, exactly, but I've worked out that he… pushed her one step so far."

"He raped her." Harry deduced. Kira nodded.

"She waited until he left, grabbed her broom and flew over the border into Canada. Then, her broom malfunctioned and she crashed right near here, in Feral territory."

"That's when she was bitten?" Harry asked.

"Yes. The Alpha, a werewolf known as Wraith, bit her on the flank just before moonset."

"That must have been terrible for her," Harry put in.

"You would think that, wouldn't you?" Kira said distantly. "But Janexis says getting bitten was the best thing that ever happened to her."

Harry was shocked. "What? How could she say that?"

"Wraith offered Kendall the identity of his Alpha female, Janexis. She wanted to be purely Feral and no longer desired any reminders of her human identity, including passports or birth certificates. He also offered her shelter, and the rank of Alpha female."

"Why would he give all of that to her?" Harry asked.

"Two reasons. One, so she wouldn't report the bite to the Registry. Two, Feral packs are required to live away from civilization, and rarely encounter humans to bite. As such, they have to increase or maintain their numbers naturally. Earlier, I told you that only female werewolves can produce werewolf children. Adding a female to his pack appealed to Wraith very much, and the ability to change identities so she would be untraceable by her parents appealed to Kendall very much. So Kendall Myers, the thirteen-year-old who crashed in Feral territory switched identities with Janexis Rodenbeck, the fifteen-year-old Alpha female who was betrothed to Wraith."

"And Janexis, I mean Kendall, was okay with giving up her rank?" Harry asked.

"Well, the thing is, Kendall, as we call her now, was perfectly willing to give up her rank. In Feral packs, Alphas marry Alphas, Betas marry Betas and so on, regardless of emotional attachments. Kendall had fallen in love with one of the unranked males in the pack and dreaded having to marry Wraith instead. So when Janexis showed up, Kendall didn't even make her challenge her for the position. She stepped down to unranked without a fuss. Last I heard, she was engaged." Kira shook her head. "I'm sorry. Like I said, it's not my story to tell. I just wanted to show you that not all werewolves are cursed. And not just the ones who live in packs and caves, either. I may drink Wolfsbane and live as a human, but I love being a werewolf, and so does Anja."


	4. Chapter 4

The next day, Harry started his actual research into Canadian werewolves, starting with the laws governing how they lived. Kira enthusiastically helped him find books and highlight the laws that were most different from the ones in the UK. Harry was surprised to learn that although Canada had a registry as well, the primary purpose was to ensure that every registered werewolf could receive free Wolfsbane the week before the full moon. Canadian werewolves were not required to report their condition to their employers either, and there were no restrictions regarding the types of positions they could hold.

When Harry got to the notes Kira had made on the laws concerning bites and infection, he truly realized the main differences between Canadian and English werewolves. In Canada, werewolves were people with a condition. In the UK, werewolves were bloodthirsty monsters, regardless of the phase of the moon. He shook his head in disbelief at the highlighted phrases "a werewolf who unintentionally infects another will be given a fair trial to determine whether or not appropriative measures were taken to prevent the bite." "Individuals aware of the existence of lycanthropy will take measures to avoid werewolves on full moon nights, including werewolf colonies and feral territories." "Killing a transformed werewolf under any circumstances other than self defense will be charged with murder."

"What's a werewolf colony?" Harry asked Kira.

"A community primarily consisting of werewolves or family of werewolves. The Wolfsbane-using werewolf's answer to Feral packs." Kira answered.

"Are there a lot of those colonies in Canada?" Harry asked. He was amazed at the thought of werewolves freely admitting their condition by living in gatherings where it was widely known.

"Of course," Kira said. "In fact, this you're in one right now."

"That's incredible," Harry said. "In England, werewolves keep their condition a secret, for fear of persecution. And they certainly can't afford houses like this."

Kira sighed and shook her head. "It's not like that here. In this community, there are werewolves who are wizards, werewolves who are Muggles, Muggles who aren't werewolves but are married to werewolves or have children who were bitten, and so on. Everyone knows what everyone is, and we all make it work somehow."

"The Muggle families know about magic?" Harry asked.

"Oh, yes. We try not to use magic in front of them, but they know it exists. I love living with them, though. I'm a pureblood, and I drive a Jeep Commander and use the internet. I bet not many of us con say that, eh?"

"I suppose not," Harry mused, "although you'd probably get on well with my father-in-law."

Kira laughed, then stood up. "Come on," she said, "I'll show you around the neighborhood."

OoOoO

Werewolves are social creatures, Harry deduced after Kira had taken him and the boys around the community. They had cookouts outside, the children wrestled and chased each other in the yard. Wolfsbane might allow werewolves to keep their mind during the full moon, but the pack mentality still prevailed.

"There's a waiting list to move into this neighborhood," Kira told Harry as they sat watching a game of Quidditch taking place between some of the older kids, including James and Teddy. "Werewolves are meant to be in packs. Every study ever done shows that. Those that use Wolfsbane don't generally set up a pack structure with an Alpha/Beta complex, but we transform together on the full moon, and we spend time with each other every other day of the month. Plus, back when werewolves were hunted by poachers and wizards, being together offered us protection. Do you have anything like that in England?"

"No," Harry said, "Most live alone, to keep their condition secret. If they don't have a safe place to transform, they are put in individual cages in the Control of Magical Creatures office."

Kira scrunched up her nose. "Why don't they just take Wolfsbane?"

"It's expensive and difficult to brew. Most werewolves live in poverty."

"That's terrible!" Kira exclaimed. "Transforming without Wolfsbane and not having a pack! I can't even imagine. No wonder you have such a problem with Ferals."

"You have Ferals too," Harry reminded her.

"Yeah, but our Ferals believe werewolves are meant to live separately from humans, and they do so voluntarily. Your Ferals don't sound like they have much of a choice." She sighed. "Look, I don't agree with pack orders and werewolves running around free with no Wolfsbane, but at least let the ones who don't have a place to go transform together, in an open space. Werewolves don't bite to kill, they bite to make packs. A werewolf who feels alone and secluded is just asking for trouble."

As she spoke, Harry noticed a truck driving up the winding dirt road to the entrance to the colony. After a few seconds, Kira noticed it too. There were about five people in the bed of the truck, which came to a stop on the side of the street right in front of them. "Speak of the devil," she said, sounding irritated. "Ferals."

*Please review! All comments/constructive criticism welcome!*


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